'Twere fond to pamper spleen, 'cause owls detest The light of day; Or real nonsense, which endures no test, Condemns thy play. Lodge not such petty trifles in thy breast, But bar their sway; And let them know, that thy heroic bays Can scorn their censure, as it doth their praise. Think not thy answer will their nice reclaim, Whose heads are proof Against all reason, and in spite of shame Will stand aloof; 'Twould cherish further libels on thy fame, Should these thee move. Stand firm, my Dryden, maugre all their plots, Thy bays shall flourish when their ivy rots. But if you are resolved to break your use, And basely sin, In answer; I'll be sworn some haggard muse Has you in her gin; Or in a fit you venture to abuse Your Polyhymn', You may serve him so far: But if you do, All your true friends, sir, will reflect on you. The remonstrance of this friendly poet was unavailing; Dryden having soon after published the following Vindication. Footnotes: 1. "A Defence of the Charter and Municipal Rights of the City of London, and the Rights of other Municipal Cities and Towns of England. Directed to the Citizens of London, by Thomas Hunt. _Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur._ London, printed, and to be sold, by Richard Baldwin." 4to, pages 46. Wood informs us, that Thomas Hunt, the author, was educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, and was esteemed a person of quick parts, and of a ready fluency in discourse, but withal too pert and forward. He was called to the bar, and esteemed a good lawyer. In 1659 he became clerk of the assizes at Oxford circuit, but was ejected from the office at the Restoration, to his great loss, to make room for the true owner. He wrote, "An Argument for the Bishops' right of judging in capital Cases in Parliament, &c.;" for which he expected (says Anthony) no less than to be made lord chief baron of the exchequer in Ireland. But falling short of that honourable office, which he too ambitiously catched at, and considering the loss of another place, which he unjustly possessed, he soon after appeared one of the worst and most inveterate enemies to church and state that was in his time, and the most malicious, and withal the most ignorant, scribbler of the whole herd; and was thereupon stiled, by a noted author, (Dryden, in the following Vindication,) _Magni nominis umbra_. Hunt also published, "Great and weighty Considerations on the Duke of York, &c." in favour of the exclusion. He had also the boldness to republish his high church tract in favour of the bishops' jurisdiction, with a whig postscript tending to destroy his own arguments.--_Ath. Ox._ II, p. 728. 2. A tory paper, then conducted with great zeal, and some controversial talent, by Sir Roger L'Estrange.